Estate-Tax Elimination Would Do Little
To Mitigate Slowdown, Economists Say

By

John D. McKinnon Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Jan. 8, 2001 12:34 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON -- President-elect George W. Bush is advocating tax cuts to jump-start a sagging economy. But one of the headline provisions of his tax-cut package -- the elimination of the estate tax -- would do little soon to get the economy moving again, economists say.

Estate-tax elimination, one of the most popular elements in the Bush tax plan, enjoys support in both political parties, even though only the wealthiest 2% or so of...